Betfred has appointed Nick Cockerill as its new CPO. Cockerill comes to the role following an over three-year tenure as VP of Product with Stats Perform, with over a decade of experience across various industries.  

Cockerill began his career in 2010 as Managing Director for E.T.I. Fitness Systems, inventing handheld fitness equipment and being involved in product development of sports footwear. He left the role after a year to take on the position of eCommerce Manager at T C Bathrooms. However, he also left this role after a year, joining Asda Walmart in May 2012 to become Digital Category Manager. 

After a short stint with Adidas, Cockerill took his first step into the gaming industry, joining Sky Betting & Gaming as Core Systems Product Manager in January 2014. A year later, he was promoted to Senior Product Manager – Payments and Core Services, working in this role until June 2017 when he was again promoted, this time to Head of Operational Technology. In total, Cockerill worked with the company for just over five years, before joining The Stars Group in February 2019 as Head of Product and Design – Global Sportsbook. 

After two years with the sportsbook, he joined Stats Perform – his most recent role before this latest appointment – where he acted as VP of Product. In this role, he participated in the launch of several notable products, including Runningball for tennis as Stat Perform’s Dynamic Betting Stats API. 

In his new role as Betfred’s Chief Product Officer, Cockerill is aiming to elevate both the operator’s online and retail offering, being part of the sportsbook’s strategy to become a ‘technology-first organisation.’ 

On his appointment, Cockerill said: “I’m delighted to join Betfred at such an important and exciting time in their history. Betfred is one of the UK’s strongest brands in the sector and I’m looking forward to working with the excellent team here to elevate Betfred to where it should be as one of the top online bookmakers in the UK and advancing our leadership in retail.” 

Betfred CEO Joanne Whittaker said: “Nick joins with a wealth of experience and has an excellent track record in the sector. His appointment is key to our huge ambitions for Betfred.” 

We spoke with Whittaker in this year’s edition of the Gambling Insider CEO Special. In it, Whittaker discussed her relationship with Founder Fred Done, her journey in entrepreneurship and much more. Betfred USA CEO Kresimir Spajic will feature in the upcoming CEO Special of Gaming America magazine. 

The appointment also comes not long after the release of the company’s FY23 report, which saw overall turnover for Betfred reach £908m ($1.16bn), up 25.6% year-on-year. Despite this increase, plus increases in other sectors such as online gambling growing 99.9% to £331m, operating profit took a sizeable hit, down 98.7% to £467,000. This was also the case with profit (loss) after tax, with 2022’s profit of £19.6m dropping to a loss of £71.7m in 2023.